1. Field of the Invention
The disclosure is directed to using motion to improve local wireless network connectivity.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mobile devices, such as cell phones, smart phones, tablet computers, laptops, personal digital assistants (PDAs), etc., are often capable of connecting to local wireless networks, such as wireless local area networks (WLANs), WiFi networks, Bluetooth networks, etc. Such networks are often used to provide data connectivity for mobile devices. However, maintaining a connection while a mobile device is moving from one geographic area to another can be challenging.
Currently, mobile devices simply perform periodic scans when not-connected, and suppress all scans when connected. When connected, scans are suppressed to save energy, but this can hinder the ability of the device to efficiently find and switch to a better access point (e.g. one with a higher signal-to-noise ratio). When not connected, the rate of scanning is a tradeoff between power consumption and the delay of establishing a connection. This is especially an issue with moving devices where the best access point may be changing relatively quickly. These scans can require significant power, and thus there is an opportunity to use motion information to improve the power performance of the connectivity management.